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March 23, 2014

Filthy Review - 'Dead Nude Girls'

Dead Nude Girls
(2014)

Review by Jude
Felton

Having
followed the directorial career of Canadian enfant terrible, Ryan Nicholson,
since his debut short film, Torched, it’s always with a high level of
anticipation that I approach each new movie. With 2006’s Live Feed he probably
went as close to mainstream accessibility as I imagine he ever will, and that
was probably due in part to the incredible success of Eli Roth’s Hostel, even
though the two films are very different.

Since then
Nicholson has delivered a handful of movies that would quite easily have found
themselves at home in the late 1970’s/ early 1980’s, with Gutterballs movie
homages to the likes of Maniac and I Spit on Your Grave, to Hanger’s almost
Troma-esque gross-out qualities. What all of his films have had though, even
through their darkest moments is a sick, black sense of humor. You knew you
were watching a film and they entertained as much as they disgusted. With Dead
Nude Girls though, Nicholson has taken a much darker and more disturbing route.
You have been warned.

Set up as
three separate tales, all with the main central character (surprisingly played
by Nicholson himself), entitled Axe Wound, Golden Shower and Rump Roast,
respectively. Dead Nude Girls is low budget, nihilistic and utterly
distasteful, and that is not meant in a negative light. When Nicholson promises
to deliver sick and disturbing films he rarely disappoints, although with this
55 minute beast I believe he has upped the ante, and in turn tested the
tolerance levels of his fans.

Now, you may
think this review to be one that is filled full of pointless hyperbole, in
order you give the film some sort of promotional push. That could be true, had
it not been as undeniably savage as it ended up being. I don’t believe I have
ever seen Nicholson delve this deep into the abyss for his material. Not even
back in his debut, Torched, which is probably his darkest movie prior to this,
has he shown such complete disregard for human beings.

The
individual tales contained here are pretty much self-explanatory. That is to
say that they live up to their titles, and what you might think they entail is
pretty much what you will get.

The female
actresses here must be given credit for enduring what I can only imagine to
being an incredibly uncomfortable shoot. The end results though are thoroughly
convincing, as they play opposite Nicholson’s detestable villain. Dead Nude
Girls, for those that like comparisons, is as if Toe Tag’s August Underground
movies married Adam Rehmeier’s The Bunny Game in a ceremony conducted by Frank
Zito. In fact, Nicholson’s villain in this movie owes quite a bit to Joe Spinnel’s
famous character from Bill Lustig’s Maniac.

The entire
film is very low budget, which much of the onscreen carnage happening in one
room, yet thankfully we aren’t subjected to shaky camera work. The score is
minimal, but most effective when it does kick in, and the onscreen violence is
at times hard to watch. It’s actually far from gory, in comparison to previous
Plotdigger films, although there is plenty of blood here. In terms of actual
gore, there are only a handful of scenes that you would describe this way; it’s
the tone of the film, more so than anything else, which really takes this film
into its dark resting place. Don’t be mistaken though, this is an incredibly
explicit movie. What it lacks in term of the visceral, it more than makes up
for in other ways.

With Dead
Nude Girls, Ryan Nicholson has really pushed the envelope in terms of what
viewers will expect from him. I’m sure he will lose fans, as well as gain a
few, but I don’t think there will be many that “enjoy” the film. Much as I
thought The Bunny Game was an incredibly good movie, I didn’t enjoy it. Dead
Nude Girls is similar in that respect. I didn’t finish watching it and think to
myself I have to watch it again, and maybe I never will. However, in terms of
truly disturbing horror/exploitation I honestly believe that Nicholson has
outdone himself.

This film
will upset, offend and quite honestly piss a lot of people off, and that in
itself is quite an achievement. Nicholson has never been one to play it safe
and this film is no exception, especially with casting himself in the lead
role. There’s no cool soundtrack, no snappy one-liners, just 55 minutes of
pain, suffering and graphic nudity.

Prepare to
love it. Prepare to hate it. Just prepare yourself, as it’s not an easy hour to
sit through. In Ryan’s own words, Dead Nude Girls is “pretty vile”. He’s not
wrong, and it is definitely by far his most powerful movie to date.

Dead Nude Girls is available to buy, on Blu-ray and DVD, through Plotdigger Films.